Gamers Sue Nintendo To Get Tariff Money Back

Two Nintendo customers from California and Washington are suing Nintendo in an effort to get tariff refunds from the video game company, according to a new filing obtained by Aftermath. Gregory Hoffert and Prashant Sharan filed the proposed class action complaint in the United States District Court's Western District of Washington on Tuesday; they want the court to force Nintendo to pass along the money it's likely to receive from U.S. Customers and Border Protection through the newly-opened tariff refund portal.

In March, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the United States government for a tariff refund after the Supreme Court ruled that U.S. president Donald Trump's International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 tariffs were unconstitutional. It was one of thousands of companies that did so before Customs and Border Protection vowed to open a refund portal to streamline the process. The lawsuit was paused as the government got that process in order.

Some companies, like FedEx and UPS, said they would pass the tariff refunds back to their customers. Nintendo is one of many companies that raised prices to account for the massive tariffs—many of the companies' products are manufactured in countries that were heavily impacted—but Nintendo hasn't said what it would do with the returned money. Hoffert and Sharan are asking the court to decide what happens with that money. Several other companies, like Costco, are being sued by customers for the same reason.

"In practical terms, Nintendo stands to receive a windfall: it has already recouped tariff costs from consumers through higher prices, and it now stands in line to recover the same unlawful tariff payments from the federal government," the plaintiffs' lawyers wrote in the complaint.

The argument is that Nintendo didn't really face much financial hardship due to the tariffs, because those added costs were passed along to customers. The tariffs were imposed right before preorders were supposed to be opened up for Nintendo's Switch 2 console. While preorders began later than expected, the console's price did remain the same, but Nintendo increased the prices of certain Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 accessories, as well as the original Nintendo Switch consoles.

"Nintendo now seeks to recover from the government duties whose economic burden was borne, in whole or in part, by Plaintiffs and Class members," lawyers wrote.

Nintendo reported "strong, and in some periods improving, financials" during the tariff period, lawyers wrote. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said in May that its sales forecast wouldn't be impacted by tariffs or production issues; it expected to sell 15 million units during the fiscal year. As of February, Nintendo sold nearly 18 million Nintendo Switch 2 consoles. However, Furukawa also saiid during that financial earnings report that the tariffs have a "negative impact of several tens of billions of yen at the profit level."

As a proposed class action, this case will need the a judge to confirm its class action status before it can move forward. Lawyers for the plaintiffs suggest the class could be in the hundreds of thousands or millions of people. It would include anyone in the United States "who purchased goods from Nintendo during the period February 1, 2025, through February 24, 2026, in which Nintendo raised prices."

Aftermath has reached out to Nintendo for comment.